


The Nightmare Effect

by suddenly_astonishing



Series: The Twilight Regression Series [1]
Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: ABDL, Age Regression/De-Aging, F/M, Infantilism, Medical Kink
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:35:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21523813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suddenly_astonishing/pseuds/suddenly_astonishing
Summary: Set in the space in between Eclipse and Breaking Dawn and in Edward's perspective, Bella and Edward's relationship has continued, but Bella's past PSTD is still effecting her, and Edward devises a plan to help.
Relationships: Alice Cullen/Bella Swan, Edward Cullen/Bella Swan
Series: The Twilight Regression Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1551307
Comments: 4
Kudos: 46





	1. The First Nightmare

Edward’s P.O.V.  
She against me, the time is 3:47 AM. Her alarm will go off at 7:30AM, which means I have another three hours and fourty- three minutes to lay with her uninterrupted by school, Bella’s job, and our respective families. Our bodies are intertwined, with her resting almost fully on top of me, my hand is lazily trailing up and down her back. The window is open, letting in a small cool breeze, it is a good thing that Bella likes to sleep cold, because between me and the window always being open it’s a wonder she doesn’t get hypothermia on a regular basis. In the next room, Charlie is dreaming about a fishing trip he and Harry went on. I am entertaining myself by dreaming with him. The water beneath the boat of his memory is cool, and his jacket is damp with the sea spray, but the men are laughing like the day has just begun, and the fish will be biting any time now. I’d give my left arm to know what Bella is dreaming about, to be able to find myself in her old memories.  
Charlie is turning over in bed, the dream is changing to boring office drama at the police station, the bed springs groan underneath him. It is the passing of another sleep cycle, but still it makes me nervous that he’ll wake up and wander in here, rather then to the bathroom by mistake. Obviously, I know I could get away, but irrational fears are not only for humans. Bella flips over onto her side. Her eyes are tracking back and forth in her sleep. She is so beautiful. I tuck the blankets back around her body, trying to tuck one between her and I to keep her as warm as possible. I rest my head down on her pillow for what feels like only a moment, before noticing her rapid heart-beat. I press my hand to her chest lightly, wondering if it’s some kind of heart attack, humans are breakable things, one wrong move and poof, their gone. Then touch my hand to her forehead, it is clammy. It occurs to me that she is having a nightmare at the second that she punches me in the face.  
It doesn’t hurt me, but I know it’ll hurt her when she wakes up. My body wraps around her, my one hand holding her wrists and my leg pressing her legs down. Her chest rises and falls rapidly as she screams. “Bella! Bella!” I shutter out in a half whisper trying to get as close to her ear as I can so I can talk to her without alerting her father. Distantly, I hear Charlie’s bed squeak. His grumpy thoughts about how he thought this time was over, and a memory of baby Bella waking up from nightmares crosses his mind. I’d smile at the cute image of Bella at around five years old, in her happy princess bed, crying, and then being consoled by her father, but I’m too preoccupied by the fact that he’s coming in here any second and Bella still won’t wake up. I hold her as long as I can, until his feet reach the outside of the door, before I’m forced to throw myself out of the window, as I do so, Bella lurches forward her mind starting to wake up and realize that it was me holding her together, but it is too late, I am already gone, she is just in time to see her dad at the door.  
“uh.. Bells? You okay?” Charlie shuffles out, his hand still on the doorknob, his body only partially inside, I could see them from the window, although they couldn’t see me. Bella pulled her blanket up, and runs her hand through her long hair. Her breath becomes slightly labored, as she looks to him.  
“Yeah, yeah Dad, I’m fine.” Charlie didn’t move. “Really Dad. I’m good.” He looked like he still didn’t believe her, and his thoughts coubberated this theory, but still, he pulled himself out the room, and bumbled back to his bed. As soon as the door was shut, my girl squinted out into the darkness, looking for me. She waved her hand beckoning me, but I waited until I was sure Charlie wasn’t coming back in. Then I walked the tree like a balance beam, and jumped onto her bed from the window. Almost instantly from the moment my rear end hit the comforter, my arms were full of Bella, and her hair, with its delicious scent, wrapped around me. I didn’t need to read her mind to know that this close call was too close. There had to be a way to lesson her night terrors and give us both some peace. 

Bella slammed the car door and met me on the other side the next morning. “You want to try what?”  
“Regression therapy. It may help your nightmares, like last night.”  
“Aren’t I pathetic enough without being treated like a baby?” She huffed as she half stumbled over air half walked ahead of me, though the parking lot.  
I sighed and grabbed her arm. “You are not pathetic, Bella.” And I kissed her, her hot lips melded to my own. No, never pathetic, perfect. I let her lips go when thoughts of ignoring my sophisticated nature for a more animalistic imagining of what would happen next. It is a good thing she won’t ever be able to read my mind.  
“Fine, I’ll try it. But only if no one else knows.” She sounded so tough, but her eyes showed such vulnerability. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that Alice had already seen Bella and I doing it in a vision, and subsequently started shopping for adult sized baby products. No, it would be much better to take the credit for myself and allow her to keep her dignity, at least as much as she felt she needed to. Besides, it’d be fun to get credit for having some sense of style.  
The truth is I had been thinking about regression therapy for some time, specifically for Bella. Now it’s true that the idea of her looking so cute and vulnerable is definitely appealing, but also ever since the whole James debacle, I’ve known I had to do something. Afterall, I spent 103 years hurting only those I planned to eat, and now I have hurt the woman I love more times over then any one human should have to deal with. In other words, guilt was eating me alive. Afterall, she may be a lamb and me a lion, but I’m still not supposed to eat her. Somehow, me babying her seems like a better option, after all it’s not like I’ll ever have a real child calling me papa.


	2. chapter 2

“Edward, are you sure about this? There are other ways that are less extreme. You could take her to a therapist, or try melatonin for sleep? I’m not saying that your therapy plan won’t work- I just don’t want you to get lost in the idea that you’ll be able to do it all by yourself.” We were sitting in Carlisle’s office. I had brought him my plan and showed him my budgeting. A crib, clothes, diapers with cute designs on them, everything she could possibly need and more. It’s not as if I didn’t have the money to spend, and I spend anything to make my Bella better again.   
“I don’t think I’ll be able to do it myself, but that’s what I have you for. We both know you have more medical degrees then there are people in Forks.” I could feel through his thoughts he had no real problem with the therapy. He was already planning the journals he would search to do more research. His doubts centered around logistics. We had an extra room in the house, could make that the nursery, etc. But I already had a plan, and Alice had already picked out the paint colors.   
“Don’t worry, I was planning to split my room in half, it has plenty of space, we can just move the piano to the other side of the room.”   
“As long as Alice has at least a hand in the design I have no problem with that. I’ll start some more extensive research past just diapers and bottles to make this really work. Also, Edward- it’s important that she talks to someone that isn’t you or me, about how this therapy is going, as well as having regular talking sessions with me. We don’t want to create further damage.”   
“I’ll talk to her, see who she feels comfortable with. You’ll email me the plan?”   
He nodded, he didn’t really have to answer, most people think what they say before they say it, so I essentially hear everyone’s statements twice, Carlisle was one of the few of the family that thought and remembered that he could just think what he wanted to say on a regular basis. “This isn’t going to be easy, Edward.”   
“I made this mess by leaving and uprooting our whole family. Everyone left Forks because of me. This is the consequence of that, and I have to face it. Anything less would be just putting salt into an already deep wound.”  
Carlisle gripped his chin, leaning on his arm. He didn’t move to correct me, in thought, or in speech. “I’ll email you the plans then.”   
“Thanks, Dad.” He wasn’t going to say it, but he was thinking it, the real test would be to see how Bella took all this, the family would be easy, in fact, I had already done most of the work without doing any work. Alice already saw it, which means Jasper already knew, Rosalie was desperate for a baby, any baby, so she wouldn’t care, and Emmet would follow behind her. He already treated Bella like she was his kid sister anyway. I had told Carlisle, which by proxy meant I had already told Esme. The final test really was going to be telling Bella, but even more then that, I was going to have to get ready.   
It has already been made clear that my superior strength, agility, and other superpowers, for lack of a better word, were essentially useless in urging Bella to feel safe enough to release trauma. So, what else was there that would work?   
“hey.” Bella huffed, half stumbling half purposely lowering into the seat next to me in chemistry. I blinked. I must have been on autopilot. did I remember walking down the stairs, getting in my car, and driving over here and walking into my second period right on time? I didn’t. But I suppose this is life for immortal beings, you can’t remember every second otherwise your brain would literally explode. “You okay?” She asked me. She was tucking her hair behind her ear, and without control, I subtlety sniffed for her. Delicious as always.   
“Yes, I’m fine. I got lost in my head. Sorry, my love.”   
She eyed me curiously. “I suppose that’s pretty normal for you.”   
“Oh, is it now, well sorry.” She smirked at me, and while I realized what was happening, I pretended that I didn’t so that when she pressed her lips to my cheek, I could act surprised. The undead life is no fun if you can’t fake humanity occasionally.   
“So uh, why is Alice asking about what hypothetical paint colors I would like if I had a hypothetical other bedroom?”   
Damn it to hell. Nobody listens. She literally sees the future, and doesn’t listen. “I want you to move in with me.”   
“I’m sorry. I know you’re a vampire, but not even you could convince Charlie to agree to that.”   
“Not full time. And I don’t know if your going to like my idea.”   
She sighed, and her warm breath floated over me. “Is this about the regression therapy?” Bella leaned so close to me I could hear the blood flowing in her neck as she asked.   
Well, here goes nothing, or rather everything if you think about the state of Bella’s mind before me, and then take into account what I then did to it, if this doesn’t work- her mental fortitude, or lack thereof as it stands now, will be entirely my fault- and I’ll have no way to help her. “Yes. We need to make some adjustments to where you sleep. Don’t worry about Charlie though. He won’t know you’ve gone, and he won’t know when you come back. But it’s going to be fine Bella- if you want to try it that is. You don’t have too.” But please say yes. I hate hearing you scream every night. I hate that you’re in such pain.   
She looked at me pointedly, and rolled her eyes. “So what? Your going to be my daddy now? And what’s everyone else going to be? Not there in their own home?”   
“They already know my plans. They’ll be whatever you feel comfortable with them being. This is about you feeling better, anything that makes you feel unsafe will be strictly forbidden. If you don’t want them there, they will leave.”   
She just sighed and rolled her eyes. Again. “Carlisle thinks this will help?” I let out a gasp of air I didn’t need, finally she was coming around.   
“This with therapy and regular sessions and assessments, yes. He thinks it may help.”   
“You won’t have to worry about anything, Bella. I’ll take care of you, of everything.”  
“That’s what I’m worried about. I don’t want you to have to do everything just because I have stupid human problems. I promise, Edward, I’ll be fine.”  
“Your right. You will, when you get proper treatment for the trauma you’ve been through. Nobody is saying your weak, Bella. And I promise I am not going to do anything alone. Carlisle will help and so will whomever you want. We are all in this together were all a family and we help eachother when it’s needed.”  
“Like I said before. If you think this will work, then I’ll try it. What do I need to do?”   
“Nothing. Tell Charlie when your ready to go up to your room. I’ll meet you there, and take you back to my house, okay?”   
“What if he checks on me or something?”   
“Either Alice will swap places with you, so that when he checks on you you’ll appear to be asleep, or once your asleep at my house, I’ll take you back and put you to bed in your house. Charlie will never know you left.” I answered another question on our shared chemistry worksheet and passed it to her.   
“Okay, I guess. Tonight?”  
“Tonight.” I nodded my head in agreement as she got up from her chair to turn our worksheet in.


End file.
